Squidventures
by SongMina
Summary: After Alfred sees a strange occurrence on TV with Kiku, he decides to investigate. Sadly, this leads the tentacled pair to do community service. - WILL NEVER BE COMPLETED, IS KEPT UP BECAUSE I LOVE THIS TRASH -
1. A normal day that lead to a discovery

**WELL HELLo there.  
This fanfiction right here is based on an RP I and my best friend had that has now become 5 part adventure. (5 as in 5 stories in the same universe _so far_.)  
...WHICH IS PRETTY HUGE.**

So for somereason I had the great idea of writing it down as a story. I won't promise finishing it, but I will finish this first part for certain.

 **I suppose you could call this a passion project? It's like a weird disfigured baby I can't help but really like.**

 **Now before you start, a few things to note:  
\- This has OCs, but no shipping between OC and Canon.- I'm finnish so my grammar isn't perfect, even with my best friend being my editor.  
\- I am in no way writing this as a masterpiece of liteature, but I do want to make it entertaining. The logic of things can be stretched a bit far sometimes.**

 **Hope you can still enjoy it!  
Have fun!**

* * *

One faithful afternoon, a small tentacle haired male was sitting on a nice couch. He was participating in one of his favorite activities, reading.

Sadly, his rare moment of peace and quiet was cut short.

"Kiku!" A loud shout covered the sound of the door crashing down.

The small brown eyed squid turned to look at the strange fellow, who had kicked his door down.

This fellow happened to be Alfred, a friend of his (for reasons he did not know).

"Open the TV!" The strange fellow insisted, and ran next to Kiku on the couch.

Kiku had no choice but to do as his friend pleaded. He turned the TV on, and somehow it happened to open conveniently on the exact channel his friend wanted him to see.

A familiar black-tentacled-female-squid-human-hybrid began speaking. Kiku recognized her as Callie, one of the most beloved icons of squidkind. "We have some shocking news today!"

"The great zapfish has gone missing!" The other one of the pop-star-news-anchor-pair continued. "…Again." Her name being Marie.

Kiku gave the TV a look of concern.

Alfred on the other hand, seemed annoyed. "Why don't they ever skip to the good stuff?"

"But who cares about a nationwide catastrophe?" Callie continued the broadcast.

"Not our viewers anyway." Marie nodded in agreement.

Alfred was slowly getting more and more frustrated. "Come on, skip to the good stuff!"

Kiku couldn't blame him. If something was worth running all the way to his house, it must have been important.

Callie kept going. "Also, we have a new record."

"An inkling named Alfred Kirkland has won a 1 vs 4 turf war." Marie finished.

Callie then started talking about the arenas that were in use at the moment.

"See?" Alfred excitedly looked at Kiku. His eyes were full of life as he curiously waited for his reaction.

Kiku said the only thing that made sense, "congratulations."

Even though Kiku had only given a very small and dry celebration to Alfred, it made him feel good.

He wasn't expecting Kiku to start singing him a song about his achievements, so he got exactly what he wanted. "Thanks!" He replied with his usual smile.

"And that concludes our list for now!" Marie smiled on the TV.

"So, until next time…" Callie started to speak.

"Staay fre-"

The TV screen went black.

"Huh- Did you press the off button?" Alfred looked at Kiku.

Kiku shook his head. "It's still on."

"Why is the screen black, then?" Alfred asked, even though it was more close to a statement.

Kiku just shrugged slightly.

Suddenly the TV screen returned back to the studio. There was light pink ink all around the room, and a new squid stood in front of the camera. "We're sorry for the sudden technical error." He said.

Alfred tilted his head, making his strange small tentacle that stood above all of the others lean to the side.

"Next we will show the famous documentary "Young jellyfish orphans left to live in the plaza without food," the male continued.

Alfred blinked twice, before facing Kiku again. "That couldn't have been only a technical error, right?"

Kiku closed the TV and looked at Alfred with one of his famous neutral faces. "Well, I don't see what else it could have been."

"This seems suspicious." Alfred rubbed his chin to more clearly show that he was thinking.

Kiku knew from experience that this couldn't end well.

Alfred suddenly jumped up, and pulled a gun from his pocket. He made a cool pose, and smiled with determination. "This is clearly a job for the hero!"

Even though Alfred's pose was quite fantastic, it didn't stop him from accidently shooting at the ceiling.

"Whoops-" he looked at the yellow spot on the ceiling.

Kiku looked at it as well, not sure how to react. "Yao isn't going to like this…"

"Yao?" Alfred tilted his head.

"My oldest brother." Kiku explained.

Alfred sent out a thoughtful "Oh," before speaking. "Well, he can't get angry at us if we aren't here."

Kiku blinked. "I don't think that's how it works…"

Alfred grapped Kiku's wrist. "Sure it is, come on! We have a mystery to solve!" He started pulling Kiku towards the door.

In the end, Kiku had no choice but to follow Alfred, leaving his older brother scream from horror when he found the dirty ceiling.  
Hopefully the studio wasn't too far.

* * *

Alfred kicked a strong glass door open, pointing his two guns all around the room.

This of course, caused some panic with the people inside the studio.

Sheldon and the male from earlier turned to look at the intruders.

"Alright, coast clear, Kiku," Alfred said and walked further inside, still pointing around with his guns.

"Excuse me, but weapons aren't allowed in here." The man said and stood up from his chair.

"This is an important hero matter," Alfred tried to explain.

Sheldon walked over to him. "I'm sorry, but we really need to take these away from you."

Alfred suddenly hugged the guns in his hands, like an over protective mother. "No…"

"I'm very sorry." Sheldon said, and grapped the guns.

Alfred wouldn't let go.

"Alfred, I really think you should let them go… They are illegal outside of turf wars." Kiku tried to reason with Alfred.

The young squid couldn't really say anything to counter Kiku's reasoning, so he had to let go of his children.

"These are some nice models," Sheldon complimented, and took them with him.

A bit further away the man was making his way closer to Alfred and Kiku. "Excuse me, can I help you in anyway?"

"Yes. We're on official hero business, and demand to know what's going on here." Alfred said as formally as he could.

Kiku wasn't exactly sure if Alfred was serious or not, it had always been like Alfred didn't care about consequences, or danger. It was both admirable, and a little stupid.

"Uhm, so who are you?" The man tilted his head. He had never heard of "Official Hero business" before.

"Oh, come on! I was on the news today! I'm Alfred!"

"Ooh, you're Fred Joshell? The famous documentarist who wasted 5 years of his life trying to figure out why the shoe salesman is still alive even though he seems to have been fried to death?" The man looked excited.

"…No. I'm Alfred Kirkland. We don't sound even remotely similar." Alfred said annoyed. "I'm the guy who beat a turf war 1. vs 4!"

"Oh," the man said in disappointment.

"Now, tell me what happened here," Alfred said, looking around the studio. No-one had yet even try to clean up yet, and some of the tables were flipped over.

"Just a technical error, you don't need to worry." Sheldon said, returning without Alfred's guns.

"Okay, I think we all can agree that that's a lie." Alfred pointed at the light pink spot on the wall.

Kiku nodded.

"…Fine." The man sighed. "The truth is, that Callie and Marie are gone."

"Gone?" Alfred blinked in surprise.

Sheldon nodded sadly: "I think they might have been squidnapped."

"You mean kidnapped?" the man asked.

"Well we can never be sure with you guys," Sheldon pointed out.

"Oh," the man nodded in agreement.

Alfred stared at the two. "You're just sitting around, when the two most famous musicians of Inkling kind have been squidnapped?"

"We did call the police," Sheldon cleared up.

Alfred looked at the two in disbelief. "Have you guys even _seen_ the police we have?"

The two shook their heads.

Alfred sighed, and turned to Kiku. "I belive we have work to do."

Kiku had to admit that when Alfred wanted to look serious and heroic, he certainly could.

Alfred walked out the studio with Kiku, leaving Sheldon and the man try to understand what just happened.

* * *

"Erm, Alfred, what are we going to do, exactly?" Kiku asked with worry, following his blue-eyed friend.

"We need to find clues," Alfred said, with a determined look in his eyes.

"How are you planning to do that…?" Kiku said awkwardly. He really wasn't sure why he was even following him. _I should probably make sure he doesn't get in trouble…_ he thought to himself, trying to justify it to himself.

"I suggest we break into their house!" Alfred said, with confidence.

Kiku blinked, as if hoping that it was a joke. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Oh come on, it'll be fine!" Alfred assured.

Kiku couldn't really say anything to that, so he decided to just remain quiet.

"So hey, do you know how to break into a house?" Alfred asked Kiku.

He shook his head.

"…But your house is like full of ninjas." Alfred said.

Kiku tilted his head. Sure, he did know what a ninja was, but he only knew what he'd been taught in history class.

Alfred looked like he realized something. "Oh- Yeah, never mind." He turned around, placing his hand on his chin, beginning to think again.

Kiku took the moment to enjoy the nice weather. It was sunny, but not too warm. He had always loved the early spring.

"I should probably call Arthur, and ask him!" Alfred broke the silence, and grapped his phone.

After the phone had time to ring for almost a minute, Arthur picked up. "What do you want?" An annoyed voice answered.

Alfred rolled his eyes. "Relax, old man. I haven't even said anything yet and you get mad at me."

"Oh, I'm sorry. It has just gotten to be a habit of mine since you always tend to call me to talk about another one of your stupid ideas," Arthur said with frustration.

"They're not stupid!" Alfred insisted.

Arthur strongly disagreed. "You wanted to know if I could make your glasses fly."

"Hey, without my idea, that dog would still be stuck in that tree." Alfred pointed out.

"Whatever. Did you need something?" Arthur mumbled in defeat.

"Yes. You know how to break into somebody's house, right?" Alfred said.

Arthur looked at his phone with anger in his voice: "What kind of a person do you think I am?!"

"Well you did break into me and Mattie's apartment-"

"That was an emergency!"

"Yeah, yeah. Sure." Alfred smirked.

Kiku could only wonder what the two were talking about.

"So, you wanna share the knowledge with me, or not?" Alfred continued.

Arthur was just about to press the button to end the call, but another annoying creature decided to bother him.

"Arthur? Why are you screaming alone in your room?" A much taller man asked.

"Go away, Francis," Arthur said. He had enough trouble dealing with one annoying troublemaker.

"Is Francis there? Can you give him the phone? I bet he knows how break into girls' houses!" Alfred said on the other end of the line.

Arthur realized that if he gave the phone to Francis, he wouldn't have to bother with either of them. He felt like a genius, when he gave his phone to Francis.

After a long, detailed chat between the two annoyances, Alfred knew exactly what he needed to do. "Alright, thanks Francis! I'll have no trouble breaking into Callie and Marie's house now!" He said, and closed the call.

Francis blinked, taking in the information. "Wait, what-"

Arthur looked at the taller man, who was now panicking trying to operate his phone. "What did you do?" He asked in confusion.

"I just told him how to break into a girl's house!" Francis tried to defend himself.

"Yes, I got that- but why are you suddenly panicking?" Arthur said, and grapped his phone back before Francis could break it.

"I didn't realize he wanted to break into the house of celebrities!" Francis panicked. "He'll get arrested if he tries to do something like that!"

"He would get arrested no-matter where he broke into, idiot!" Arthur shouted at Francis.

"Not if it were his girlfriend!" He kept defending.

"He doesn't have a girlfriend!" Arthur kept up his annoying shouting.

"How do you know? Maybe he just doesn't want to tell you." Francis crossed his arms.

Arthur looked at Francis, as if he were about to explode from all the anger. "Fine! Whatever!" He threw his hands in the air in frustration. "Let's just focus!"

Francis tilted his head: "On what?"

"Alfred is going to break into a house, and we need to stop it." Arthur explained, while trying to call back Alfred.

"Well, I suppose," Francis agreed. At first he was going to question why he was needed in this, but then he realized that he somewhat was the one at fault.

"He isn't answering. He must have forgotten his phone on mute again." Arthur sighed, and rubbed his forehead.

"I think we may need to go after him," Francis thought out loud.

Arthur sighed. "I suppose."

* * *

Alfred walked behind a white building. "This should be it" he explained to Kiku, who was still tagging along for no-reason whatsoever.

The blue-eyed male shot some ink from his gun at the side of the building, making a trail to the window, which was luckily open.

Kiku wasn't exactly sure where Alfred had got another gun, after losing two at the studio.

Alfred turned into a squid, and swam inside the building. "Its safe! Come on, Kiku!" he waved down at him.

Kiku decided to follow, even though quite reluctantly.

"Their room is so girly," Alfred said in amazement, looking around the room.

Kiku nodded in agreement.

They looked around the small empty room. It had two beds, many posters, and a shelf full of prices.

"Woah- is that a pic of Cap'n Cuttlefish?" Alfred excitedly picked up a photo he had found on one of the nightstands.

Kiku looked at the picture of the old man. "Who is he?"

"Oh, he is a friend of mine." Alfred smiled. "…Well I think he is, at least."

"I see," Kiku said, even though he was still confused.

"I wonder what it's doing here." He placed it back on the stand.

After some pointless secret agent moves, Alfred arrived to the kitchen. Kiku was walking behind him, not touching anything.

Alfred suddenly opened the fridge: "Woah- they sure are rich!"

"Uhm," Kiku looked at the blue-eyed fellow with confusion. "Maybe we should be looking around at everything they own."

"But we need to find clues!" Alfred explained.

"I doubt we'll find clues in the fridge," Kiku continued.

"That's what they want you to think." Alfred said, while slamming the fridge door shut. "Come on, we have a criminal to capture!"

Kiku sighed very silently, making sure that Alfred didn't notice. He couldn't help but doubt that they'd find clues of a squidnapping in a place that wasn't even the crime scene.

Even so, the two made their way in to the living room, Alfred pointing his guns around, (Yes, he now had two of them) to make sure that the room was safe for entry.

And yet, as usual, Alfred got himself distracted right after entering the room. "Those stereos are bigger than the great Zapfish!"

Kiku looked around the dark room, suddenly noticing a small white piece of paper on the table. It looked like it had flown on the table from somewhere.

"Oh- you found a clue!" Alfred grapped the paper, and put his guns away.

" _To-do list:_

 _Buy a bouncy ball_

 _Squidnap the squid sisters_

 _Say hi to dad."_

Alfred read what was on the paper aloud. "This definitely belongs to the squidnapper!"

Kiku nodded, he was amazed about how strangely forward the list was.

Alfred gave the paper to Kiku. "Put it in your pocket, let's go show it to the police."

Kiku wasn't exactly sure why Alfred couldn't just put paper in his pocket, but he took the paper anyway.

Alfred smiled.

Kiku took a few steps towards the kitchen, so they could leave the building before they'll get into trouble, but for some reason or another, Alfred stopped him.

The blue-eyed male raised his gun again, and looked around cautiously, acting almost like he had heard something.

Kiku looked at Alfred, he didn't have the time to take in the situation.

Alfred on the other hand, had started taking slow yet steady steps towards a very dark hallway. His grip was strong around the gun's handle.

Suddenly, a suction bomb flew from the hallway, and stuck itself on the couch.

Alfred grapped Kiku and forced them on the ground.

The suction bomb exploded and covered the living room in thick light pink in.

"It's the squidnapper!" Alfred identified the color, and ran in the hallway, his guns ready to shoot.

But before Alfred could do any real damage, the sound of somebody landing on the ground outside echoed through the window into the hallway.

The gun wielding hero could see the person who had attacked them for only a second, but he clearly saw a person in a black hoodie.

"We can still catch up to them! Come on Kiku!" He shouted and ran to him.

Kiku walked around the huge light pink splatter of ink, looking un-comfortable. "I really don't think we should. This is getting dangerous."

"A hero like me doesn't know such word!" Alfred said, putting his guns in his… pocket.

"I'm serious, Alfred." He should have spoken up much earlier, but for reason or another, he only decided to do it now.

Alfred sighed. "Fine, fine, I won't go after them." He crossed his arms. "…At least for now."

Kiku looked a little relived.

Alfred smiled warmly and turned to the kitchen. "Let's get out of here."

Kiku nodded, and the two started walking towards the kitchen.

Sadly, their moment of peace and quiet was cut short once again. A strange sound of a person falling on the ground could be heard from the bedroom.

Alfred once again prepared his weapon, and shielded Kiku behind him. They slowly made their way closer to the bedroom door.

Alfred placed his hear on the door, to hear what was going on.

"Couldn't you have waited for me to move aside before jumping inside?" A very familiar male voice shouted in anger.

"Well, I'm sorry, I didn't know that you hadn't moved your lazy behind aside yet!" Another voice replied with the equal level of anger.

"Wait-" Alfred opened the door. "Francis? Arthur?!" He said with absolute confusion.

Arthur brushed some dust off his pants. "Alfred, how _dare_ you break into someone's house?" He obiviously wasn't pleased.

"Didn't you just do it yourselves? Besides, I didn't break in, the window was already open," Alfred pointed out.

Kiku walked a bit closer to the three and curiously watched from the side.

"Oh my- He dragged you into this as well? I'm so sorry, Kiku." Arthur began apologizing.

"It's fine," Kiku assured.

Francis stood on the side as well: "Alfred, you should tell me whose house you're breaking into before doing so! You could have gotten arrested!"

Alfred tilted his head, puzzled. "I'm sorry?" He decided to try to get out of trouble.

"You're grounded, Alfred." Arthur angrily pointed at him.

"I don't want to…," he whined.

"Then don't do idiotic things like this!"

Alfred took a deep breath, before he would explain exactly why he was innocent: "But-"

"YOU'RE ALL UNDER ARREST." An un-familiar male voice screamed from behind Kiku, making everyone in the room jump up.

"Oh for the love of-" Arthur threw his hands in the air.

Alfred looked at the policeman with a serious expression. "Excuse me, but I think there's a mistake."

"Alfred- You really shouldn't-" Kiku tried to make Alfred stop, but he was too late.

"What exactly do you mean?" The policeman pointed his gun at him.

"We are all here for a very important secret mission," Alfred said, and adjusted his glasses, trying his best to look professional.

"Don't drag us into this-" Arthur pleaded.

"Prove it," the policeman said, placing his gun even closer to Alfred's chest.

"Oh. Uhm." Alfred realized that perhaps lying to a government official wasn't very smart.

"Oh, you're all just evil criminals, aren't you?" The policeman said, squinting his eyes.

"Excuse me?" Arthur and Francis said in unison in the background.

"Drop your weapon, Mr. _Secret agent_ ," the policeman insisted.

Alfred didn't look impressed. He dropped a gun on the ground, and kicked it to the side.

"Good. Now put your hands out."

Alfred followed the Policeman's every order, and was soon handcuffed sitting behind a police car with Kiku, Arthur and Francis.

It was a great start to an adventure for sure.


	2. Atleast the police aren't eating donuts

**Here I got with another chapter! Huzzah!  
This one was very easy to write, and I'm pretty proud of it.**

 **I hope you all will like it too.**

 **Also, there's going to be a lot of human names, so if you have no idea who is who, just try to google it, alright? It'll save you from confusion.**

 **Well, have fun reading!**

* * *

Once the police car had arrived to the station, the squids were thrown into a small and grey holding cell.

"Okay, this is really gross," Francis said while looking around the tiny area. "Do they ever clean this?"

"Hey! That's rude. I'm an _excellent_ cleaner." The policeman, who had arrested them, said while locking the door.

"Oh- Forgive me," Francis apologized.

"Criminals don't deserve forgiveness," the policeman stated. "Now wait here while I go tell my boss about you." He sent a strong glare towards them before leaving the room.

"I can't believe the taxes I pay go to his wallet," Arthur said with frustration. He was leaning against the wall.

"Tell me about it," Francis agreed.

"What do we do now?" Kiku asked. He was sitting on the only chair (other than the toilet).

"We're gonna break out," Alfred said with determination.

"What?!" Arthur almost shouted.

"You know, get out of here," Alfred tried to explain himself.

It didn't seem to help, as Arthur's face got more and more disapproving every second. "That's illegal!"

Alfred shrugged: "Says the guy in jail."

"Shut up! I did not raise you like this!" Arthur angrily waved his hand as he spoke.

"Hey Kiku, wanna join me?" Alfred ignored Arthur's attempts to reason with him.

Kiku looked at him with confusion. "Uh-"

"So yes." Alfred pulled another gun out from somewhere. It confused his cellmates, as his weapon had been already taken into custody.

He shot a trail at the window, and swam between the bars. "Come on!" He encouraged the others.

"I really think this is a bad idea." Francis said while staring at the ink trail.

"Well I think it's an excellent idea." Alfred said with confidence.

"Kiku, you don't want to stay here with these dorks, do you?" He continued.

It was true that Kiku did not want to spend time in prison with two men he didn't know. Even so, breaking out wouldn't lead to anything too bad, right? He was innocent, at least in a sense.

He quickly changed his ink color to fit Alfred's yellow shade, and swam to the other side of the bars with him.

"Good choice." Alfred smiled, and swam out the window.

For a millisecond Kiku could see exactly why this was probably the worst idea imaginable, but there was no going back. He followed his friend through the window.

Luckily the holding cell was on the third floor, so the fall wasn't long. Even better was the fact that Alfred had shot a landing splash of ink right under the window.

Kiku aimed for the small area, and succeeded.

Once he emerged, he saw Alfred sitting next to him on the ink.

"Haha! That was awesome!" He celebrated.

Kiku nodded, since he didn't know how else to react.

Both of them soon got up. Kiku changed his ink color back, and Alfred put his weapon somewhere.

Kiku was quiet sure it was his jeans' pocket. He didn't believe it fit there though.

"Let's get moving, they'll find us easily here." Alfred smiled at Kiku's curious eyes.

"Oh- Where shall we go?" Kiku turned away, and tried to make it look like he was just scanning the area.

"Let's go to me and Mattie's place." Alfred said with excitement.

"Alright." Kiku nodded, the whole situation was unnerving.

* * *

Meanwhile Francis and Arthur were left behind in a holding cell, with a part of it covered in ink.

The idea of Alfred running around just after breaking out of prison was extremely un-comfortable for Arthur. Even so, he tried to keep his gentlemanly posture.

"I can't believe I'm part of his mess." Francis said with great frustration.

"You're the reason for this mess!" Arthur snapped at him.

Francis rolled his eyes "So me wanting to help your little brother makes me the bad guy?"

"Well if the help you give is about breaking into someone's house!" Arthur angrily half-shouted at him. Being mad at Francis was one of the best ways to let out steam.

Francis wasn't going to lose this insignificant argument "He wouldn't break into anyone's house if he was raised properly!"

"I raised him far better than you ever could have!" Arthur argued back.

"If I had raised him he wouldn't be breaking out of prison!" Francis gestured at the window.

"What?!" The policeman squeaked like a man from the doorway, he had obviously returned.

"Oh, great." Arthur said sarcastically, and rolled his eyes.

"Where are the other two?" The policeman franticly looked around.

"They uhm…" Arthur looked un-comfortable as he tried to figure out the best words to use. "…ran off."

"They broke out?!" The policeman screamed at the two criminals who were left.

"…Technically they didn't break anything." Francis tried to help out.

"Except the law." The policeman said with a serious expression.

Francis and Arthur decided that reasoning with this man was going to be more than difficult.

"Oh you're _all_ going to prison." The policeman walked to his desk, he looked like he could strangle someone.

The two prisoners were quite sure that being quiet would probably not lead to them being murdered by a government official.

As the angry policeman prepared to go chase the two runaways, the door slammed open.

"Where's Kiku?" Yao said. His face was more than serious as he scanned the area.

"Who are _you_?" The policeman looked at the intruder.

"I'm Kiku's older brother. I was told he was in here." He walked closer to the policeman.

The policeman stood up, he was a bit taller than Yao, but somehow Yao looked far more intimidating.

Brotherly love truly was terrifying.

"He broke out." The policeman said in the most powerful way he could muster, he must have felt threatened by Yao's strong presence.

"Kiku would never do that." Yao squinted his eyes.

"Well he did." The policeman was sadly right.

"Whatever, this isn't going to go anywhere if we just _argue_."

Francis and Arthur felt strange for a moment.

"Then you better leave." The policeman pointed at the door.

Instead of looking at the door, Yao ended up looking at the two men in the cell.

After getting a good look at the somewhat funny sight, he took a picture from his pocket, and showed it to the policeman. "Let them out."

The policeman blinked as he tried to comprehend what was happening, but when the beauty of the picture hit him, he knew exactly what he needed to do.

* * *

Alfred and Kiku were walking down the streets of Inkopolis. Small shops and places to eat were everywhere.

"Maybe we should go eat somewhere." Alfred was looking around like a small child in a candy store.

"I don't think we should…" Kiku on the other hand was more like a balloon in a nail museum.

"Why not?" Alfred said like a begging child.

"I just… …Think we should avoid public places." Kiku tried to explain the obvious without being rude to his friend.

"Okay, I guess that's o- Oh my god!" Alfred suddenly stopped walking.

"Uh?" Kiku looked around with worry, to see what Alfred had noticed.

"The squidnapper." Alfred whispered and slightly pointed at a black hooded figure that was walking down the street.

Kiku was about to say something, but Alfred wasn't going to stay put and listen.

He pulled out his gun and started charging towards the squidnapper.

Kiku couldn't help but follow.

The hooded figure heard them coming, and clearly recognized them as the same people as the ones in Callie and Marie's house.

The capture turned into a chase as the hooded figure begun running.

After running for only a minute the hooded person could easily figure out that Alfred would catch up to him very soon. He took a very small pocket ink gun made for 3 shots from his pocket.

Alfred on the other hand was feeling amazing, he was so close to capturing a bad guy.

The hooded figure suddenly turned around and shot ink at Alfred's legs.

The light pink ink was sticky and felt like fire against his legs. There was a big difference between ink inside the turf wars and outside them.

Alfred fell over, but it hadn't been his first time fighting outside a turf war. He quickly changed his ink color, and got up.

He tried to see where the hooded figure had gone, but they were no-where to be seen.

Kiku finally caught up, and looked at the ink covered Alfred with worry. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Alfred nodded, he looked disappointed. "One shot isn't enough to hurt me." He smiled at Kiku.

Kiku easily saw that Alfred was just trying to stop him from worrying, but he appreciated it.

Sadly their moment of friendship and rainbows ended quickly, when familiar faces walked towards them in the distance.

Before they could do anything, Yao ran up to them. "Finally! Kiku are you okay?" He hugged him.

"Y-Yes-" Kiku looked very un-comfortable.

"I can't belive you go do something like this! I thought you knew better!" Yao let go of Kiku.

"I'm sorry." Kiku tried to apologies.

"You should be! You could be in prison." Yao looked distressed.

"Technically we broke out of prison." Alfred suddenly intervened.

"That's worse!" Yao turned to look at Alfred, all of the warm brotherliness was gone in an instant. "You're the reason he broke out, weren't you?"

"Well, I guess." Alfred shrugged; there was no point in denying it.

"Kiku, you're grounded." He turned back at Kiku. "And you can't talk to him anymore."

"But-" Alfred tried to reason.

"Don't say anything, I've already made my mind." Yao stopped him.

At that moment Arthur and Francis finally made their way over, they clearly weren't hurrying.

"Artie! He is trying to stop me from talking to Kiku!" Alfred exclaimed.

"I can't really disagree with him." Arthur had to admit.

"So you did raise Alfred badly?" Francis smirked.

"That's not what I said!" Arthur protested.

"Thanks a lot." Alfred rolled his eyes.

"We're going home." Yao says after grapping Kiku's hand.

Kiku didn't protest, but he did glance back at Alfred before being dragged too far.

Francis sighed "We should all probably get back home."

Arthur nodded in agreement.

* * *

After a while, Alfred walked inside his and Matthew's apartment.

"Oh- You're back." Matthew looked at Alfred, as he placed a magazine about canoes on the table.

Alfred nodded "Yup."

"Where have you been?" Matthew asked, he had been a little worried.

"I tried to solve a squidnapping case by breaking into Callie and Marie's house and got arrested. After that I broke out of prison and bought some snacks on the way home." Alfred explained. "Want some?" He offered some chips to Matthew.

"W-What?" Matthew looked extremely worried.

"Don't worry about it, bro." Alfred took a few chips out the bag. "I'll be in my room." He said and walked off, leaving Matthew extremely confused.

* * *

Meanwhile Francis knocked on Antonio's room door, before opening it. "Hey." He greeted with his usual smile.

"Oh- Hi Francis!" Antonio greeted cheerfully.

"How have you been?" Francis walked in the room and sat on the floor next to Antonio.

"I'm fine, it's a little boring though." Antonio replied.

"I wish I could say the same. I got arrested!" Francis sighed.

"What?" Antonio looked surprised "Why?"

Francis explained the whole thing to Antonio, and even added some of his own "compliments" just for Arthur.

"I see…" Antonio nodded, he could feel the pain Francis was clearly going through with such a dramatic experience on his shoulders.

"Heey, what are you two up to?" Gilbert peeked through the door.

"Just chatting, as usual." Francis smiled.

"Chatting? About what?" Gilbert invited himself in.

"Francis got arrested." Antonio explained.

"Was he naked in public again?" Gilbert smirked.

"Oh, of course not! I have my manners." Francis said, it was clear that he wasn't actually offended. "I just broke into Callie and Marie's apartment."

"Wow, yeah that makes you sound so much better." Gilbert laughed very slightly, with Antonio joining him.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Ha-ha." Francis smiled at his friends.

"So what have you been up to Gilbert?" Antonio soon kept the chatting session going.

"I cleaned my tentacles." He answered.

"Clean tentacles are good." Francis stated the facts.

* * *

Somewhere very different Leon was sitting on his bed, listening to music. Well atleast trying to, it's hard to hear music over all of your family members talking about an arrest or something.

It was actually quite surprising that he suddenly heard a rock hitting his window. He walked over to it and opened it.

Outside a familiar face was looking up to him. It was Emil.

Emil waved awkwardly at him, and Leon raised his hand as a reply.

He soon dropped a rope ladder for him to climb up with.

Emil did as expected, and was soon standing inside Leon's bedroom.

"Hey." He greeted.

"Yo." Leon said, and sat back on his bed.

Emil sat next to him and spoke "How are you?"

"Ok." Leon shrugged. "Yao has been really loud."

Emil nodded "Mathias too." he smiled a little. "So what have you been up to?"

"Trying to listen to music." Leon showed his phone.

"Oh." Emil looked at it. "So what do you want to do?"

"You like wanna go out and stuff?"

"Yeah, sure." Emil shrugged, and they both stood up.

After Emil climbed out the window and Leon snuck out through the door, they were on their way.

* * *

Meanwhile at a large house a usual evening meal time had begun.

It was usual for this household to make a lot of food, and then let everybody eat whenever they feel like it.

"Feliciano, how's the food?" Francis smiled.

"It's really tasty!" Feliciano answered with a bright smile.

"Aaw, that's nice." Antonio smiled. "I like it as well."

"Do you like it, Lud?" Gilbert poked his brother.

"Yes… It's good." Ludwig nodded.

"Ah, thank you, Ludwig." Francis winked towards Ludwig.

Ludwig looked at the winking squid man, and felt un-comfortable. He decided to change the subject. "So…Have you heard of the squidnapping?"

"…Of Callie and Marie?" Antonio tilted his head.

"Yes." Ludwig nodded.

"Oh I wish I wouldn't have heard about it. Sadly I had to waste all day with Arthur trying to stop Alfred from breaking the law." Francis complained.

"You didn't do a very good job." Ludwig added.

"Well… It wasn't my duty anyways." He grumpily bit into his meal.

"So you got the reports?" Gilbert looked at Ludwig.

"Yes. I was wondering if you know anything that could be considered as a clue." He looked at the people in the table, but his attention went mostly towards Francis.

"I'm pretty sure Arthur is the one you want to talk to. I'm too traumatized from it to talk." He said making the most dramatic movements he could.

"I'll do that then." Ludwig sighed and finished his meal.

Afterwards he walked down the hallway, and arrived at Arthur's room door.

He breathed once very deeply, before knocking on the door.

Arthur opened almost instantly. "Oh, Hello Ludwig."

"Hello Arthur." Ludwig greeted back.

"Do you need something?" He continued.

"Well actually yes, two things in fact." Ludwig replied with his usual serious expression.

"I'm listening." Arthur said without hesitation.

"Well first of all, can you tell me anything about the Squidnapping." Ludwig asked.

"The Callie and Marie one?" Arthur said.

Ludwig nodded.

"Well, not really. Alfred told me about it. You should talk to him." Arthur explained.

"I see." Ludwig looked to the side for a bit "Speaking of Alfred…" Ludwig turned to face Arthur again, "…He will be arrested."

"He won't be going to prison, right?" Arthur looked actually somewhat worried.

"Well, that's a more complicated matter." He sighs. "I'm pretty sure it'll only be community service."

"I see…" Arthur scratched the back his head.

"But- If you'd like, I could have him stay here." Ludwig continued.

"What do you mean?" Arthur curiously stared at Ludwig.

"Since otherwise he'd have to stay at a holding cell, I can ask to take him under my responsibilities." He cleared his throat a little before continuing. "And that Kiku as well."

"Well at least he wouldn't break out again." Arthur nodded. "I think that's a good idea."

"Good. Thank you." Ludwig turned around and started walking towards his office to make the necessary phone calls.

* * *

Once that was done, Ludwig took his leave from the building, and arrived to the next.

He rang the doorbell.

Soon Matthew opened the door. "Hello-"

Ludwig pointed his gun directly at his forehead. "You're under arrest."

Matthew shrieked. "Wh-what?"

"Oh- I'm sorry, I thought you were Alfred." Ludwig lowered his weapon.

Matthew blinked a few times, processing the information. "Y-You're here to arrest Alfred?"

"Well, arrest might have been the wrong word to use. I'm more of taking him under custody," Ludwig awkwardly tried to explain himself. The whole arresting thing wasn't his forte.

"I…I see." Matthew wasn't exactly sure what to think.

"Can you go get him for me?" He asked. "I'm sure you understand."

"Yeah- I'll… I'll go talk to him." Matthew walked back within the apartment, and right over to Alfred's room door.

He knocked.

"What's up?" Alfred said as he opened the door.

"There's that guy by the door." Matthew awkwardly tried to explain.

"…That guy? Who's that?" Alfred tilted his head.

"I don't remember his name… He lived at the orphanage with us?" Matthew continued his efforts.

"Oh. What does he want then?" Alfred curiously tried to peek behind Matthew if he could see him from there.

"…To arrest you." Matthew sighed.

"Arrest me? For what?" Alfred was clearly taken back.

"I really don't know, can you just go talk to him?" Matthew moved from in front of the bedroom door so Alfred could walk out the room easier.

Alfred just stood there. "I don't want to."

"Please, he has a gun." Matthew tried to reason.

"And I have more." Alfred pointed out.

"You're going to have to come with me, or I'll have to use force." Ludwig suddenly said from behind Matthew.

Both of the brothers were surprised, you'd think a guy like Ludwig would make more noise when he walked.

"Fine, fine, I'll come." Alfred walked out of the room. "Sorry Mattie, I'll be back." He smiled.

Ludwig nodded "It'll only be a few weeks."

Matthew nodded as well.

* * *

Ludwig walked behind Alfred, as they made their way to his car. Ludwig handcuffed Alfred, and then they entered the car.

"So, where are you taking me?" Alfred said, he sounded un-interested.

"The orphanage building." Ludwig answered.

"Artie's place?" Alfred continued.

"Yes." Ludwig nodded.

"Ew." Alfred made it quite obvious that it wasn't what he wanted. "For how long?"

"Until we can prove that you're not the squidnapper." Ludwig stopped at red lights.

"Wait- Since when was I accused of that?" He started to sound annoyed.

"Since you broke into the house," Ludwig replied.

"I see…" Alfred leaned back against the car seat. For a while he looked out the window, the sun was setting and the sky looked orange. There was at least something nice about the situation.

"Do you know a person named Kiku?" Ludwig continued as he drove. He hadn't even glanced at Alfred during their conversation.

"Yeah, he is a really good friend of mine." Alfred nodded.

"I see." He said.

"You're going to arrest him too, aren't you?" Alfred turned his eyes back at Ludwig.

"Yes," Ludwig said, he didn't sound too happy about it.

Alfred returned his gaze to the window.

Ludwig drove to the driveway of a house that Alfred recognized easily, as he often visited Kiku.

"I'll be back in a bit." He got out of the car, and locked the doors.

Alfred could have easily gotten out, since the lock could be opened from the inside. But he didn't want to. Even though it was rare, Alfred knows when he needs to stop.

Meanwhile Ludwig had made his way to the door, and rang the doorbell.

Before the door was opened, Ludwig took a note from his pocket, and made sure that he could easily pull his gun out. He was quite sure it wasn't going to be necessary, but safety isn't something to be messed with.

Right after Ludwig had given himself a small prep talk, Kiku opened the door. "Good evening," he said with a curious expression.

"Evening... Uhm." Ludwig looked at his paper. "You're Kiku Honda, I presume?"

"Yes, I am." Kiku nodded.

Ludwig suddenly realized a strange feeling in the back of his head. It was like somewhere deep within his brain, he had recognized Kiku, as a friend. It made him very confused.

"…Are you okay?" Kiku looked at Ludwig.

He realized quickly that he had wondered into thought, and that was surprisingly rare for him.

He had to get a hold of himself, whatever that feeling was, it shouldn't stop him from thinking clearly. "Yes. Yes, I am," he said, sounding as professional as possible.

"I see." Kiku nodded, he seemed a little taken back by the sudden seriousness his visitor's voice had gotten.

"I am here to represent the Inkopolis police force. My name is Ludwig Beilschmidt." He continued with the same serious voice.

"Uhm." Kiku started look un-comfortable.

"You're a suspect for the squidnapping of Marie and Callie Cuttlefish. That's why I am here to take you into custody," he continued.

"…Oh." Kiku took a step back.

"Please move against the wall so I can handcuff you." Ludwig pointed at the wall closest to Kiku.

Kiku did as ordered and moved against the wall, he could feel Ludwig pushing him a bit more to make sure he doesn't move, as he handcuffs him.

Suddenly Yao walks over "What's going on here?"

"I'm arresting him." Ludwig replied.

"For what?!" Yao continued his pursuit for knowledge.

"He is a suspect of a squidnapping," he started taking him to the car.

Yao took a deep breath, just shouting wouldn't help with anything. "Where will you take him?"

"Marine road 6." Ludwig said, and opened the car door.

"When can I contact him?" Yao continued.

"Tommorrow." Ludwig said, and closed the car door, with Kiku inside.

"…Alright." Yao said with a slightly sad tone.

"I'm sorry." Ludwig said with his usual voice, he couldn't be as serious. He knew from first hand that having anything bad happen to your brother wasn't a nice thing to see.

After that he sat in the driver's seat, and closed the door.

At least he had done his job.

* * *

 **So that was that.**

 **I hope you liked it!**


	3. This is all quite idiotic

**I AM BACK. DID YOU MISS ME? NO? WELL TOO BAD.**

 **Here's everyone's favorite type of chapter, a filler chapter. Fun.**

 **WELL HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYy. :D**

* * *

The clock had already rolled to nine in the evening, when the car arrived to the yard of an old orphanage. "I'm sorry to bother you, but why are we at a place such as this?" Kiku asked, leaving it open for either one to answer. Alfred turned to Kiku and was about to answer, but was stopped by Ludwig. "Don't communicate until given permission."

Alfred looked at Ludwig like a teacher who took his gum away, which was quite a disapproving glare for his standards.

Ludwig then turned to Kiku to address the situation. "This isn't actually an orphanage, even though the sign might fool you." He tried to word himself as well as he could, but it was quite difficult.

"You see, the funding for the building was cut, so the government could fund the army better", he continued. Kiku nodded, even though it was quite a strange piece of information.

"It honestly gets quite complicated from there, but to explain it simply; the people who weren't adopted somehow ended up buying the building, and now we live here", Ludwig said. He couldn't help but to sound awkward. He was never a fan of admitting to the fact he lived in an orphanage. Grown men just don't do that, in his opinion.

Kiku just gave an understanding nod.

Alfred rolled his eyes. It wasn't that he was disagreeing, it was just his usual childish way of showing dissatisfaction. Ludwig opened the car door, and let Kiku and Alfred out of the car leading them to the building's front door.

From the porch alone you could tell the building was old; at least compared to the high-tech modern architecture that was most of inkopolis.

Kiku, as a person who lived most of his life in the more wealthy areas of the city felt a strong curiosity rise inside him. Of course he had been to old buildings before, but not an orphanage. The handcuffed two were asked to enter first, and they soon made their way through a small and cozy hallway which lead to an office.

The office was the embodiment of an organized mess.

The walls were covered in posters with inspirational quotes such as "work harder", and "stress drives you forwards", accompanied by pictures of dogs. The table that took up most of the room was covered in papers, but they were clearly placed around with hurry and precision.

Kiku couldn't help but to think about how bad of a work environment the room was. While Alfred tried to figure out if behind one of the posters was a note saying "Don't stress yourself, Lud", Ludwig sat down on the computer chair. It was a perfect fit for him, and it was clear he sat on that chair more often than any normal inkling ever would.

"Alright, please do sit down", he said. He put some of the more messily based papers to the side, and turned his computer on. Alfred and Kiku sat down, though Alfred sat with a grumpy glare only an invidual raised by Arthur Kirkland could manage.

"You seem to have quite the big age gap…" Ludwig said, after clicking and scrolling on his computer for a while. He was clearly checking some files of the two. Alfred couldn't help but to feel somewhat surprised over how easily Ludwig was able to get into such files. "Most people in my family look a bit younger than they actually are", Kiku tried to explain himself.

Ludwig just kept scrolling. Kiku didn't have any criminal records, but when Ludwig got to Alfred he couldn't help but to simply stare in shock. "What?" Alfred questioned, now sitting on the hard wooden chair backwards.

Ludwig had to recollect his thoughts and process the information before he could even answer. "Is this much property damage even possible for a single person?" he questioned, disbelief clear in his voice. The blonde squinted his eyes. "They were accidents, okay?!" he said, throwing his hands in the air in frustration. Ludwig raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment further. The files clearly stated that Alfred had mostly worked to pay off the damage, so it wasn't anything to lecture about.

It was however, a sign of the fact Alfred really could be a criminal, and behind the squidnapping.

The office session continued mostly the same way, Ludwig scrolling through their files, Alfred groaning in boredom, and Kiku trying to hide his interest in the facts Ludwig un-covered about his friend.

Around 9:30 pm Ludwig introduced some paper work, which just made Alfred sound like a more childish version of his older brother. As the clock showed the number ten, the tedious paperwork and investigation was finally over. Ludwig stood up. "Alright, that should be enough for tonight." Both Kiku and Alfred lifted their heads up from the piles of paper they were made to write into.

"I'll show you where you'll sleep", Ludwig said and walked to the door, making sure not to turn his back at them. "But my pajamas are back home", Alfred spoke up. "Oh", was the only thing that left Ludwig's mouth. He hadn't really thought this through, had he? But he couldn't show weakness now, he had to come up with something. "You'll survive a night. I'll have your family bring some clothes tomorrow. It's too late now." …was the only idea he could come up with. It wasn't a good, professional idea, but an idea nonetheless. "Alright", Alfred shrugged.

After that they made their way into the basement.

Even though Kiku hadn't visited an orphanage before, he was quite sure that a cell with iron bars was something that  
wasn't supposed to be there. "You'll have to stay in here", Ludwig sighed, and opened the door. "Hell no", Alfred protested. Ludwig just looked at him like an idiot. "You don't have much of a choise. Either this or prison." "Oh, prison, definetly", Alfred nodded. "Do you even know how easy it is to escape them?" "You know; everything you say could be used against you in court", Ludwig said with a slight ego to it. "…Fine."

Alfred walked into the cell, Kiku following behind him. "I'll come get you at 8 am tomorrow, please behave." Ludwig said, as he locked the door. "Whatever." Alfred sat on one of the beds. Kiku looked at Alfred warily, but was too polite to explain how rude his friend had been the whole time. "Good night", Ludwig said, and made his way back upstairs. Once the two were left alone, a rare silence fell between them.

And that silence lasted all the way to the morning.

* * *

The bright rays of light the sun casted were quite beautiful that morning, the birds were singing, and the world was as colorful as ever.

Too bad Emil could only see pitch black. He had opened his eyes only for it to not have any effect.

He felt his whole body ache, and his lungs could only breathe deep salty air. Emil felt his breathing begin to fasten, as he tried to figure out what was even happening. He found himself soon leaning against a wall, the wall felt slightly wet. He quickly jumped away from the wall, as he felt a painful sting on his hands. Emil must had been close to the ocean.

That realization did not help one bit. Emil was afraid of the unknown he was surrounded by.

Luckily, the young boy realized a solution; his phone.

He picked it from his pocket, hands slightly shaking. He put the flashlight on, and looked around.

Emil's eyes scanned the now slightly lit area. He noticed that he was in a large room, but only in one of its corners. …behind bars.

He was in a small cell. The floor was only half finished with its paving, some of the walls (including the one he leaned on) were slightly made of dirt, as they hadn't been covered by actual good wall material. It was quite a shock for Emil, especially since he couldn't see the whole room.

He turned around to look at the closer walls. To his surprise, Leon was there.

Leon was sleeping on the floor, which made Emil jump back once again. He felt his face redden, this wasn't a situation he wanted to be in with _him_. He tried to calm himself.

"Is that light?" a female voice suddenly spoke up from the dark side of the room. "No, it's a dinosaur", another female voice answered. This clearly wasn't something the other enjoyed hearing. "That was kind of un-called for."

Emil quickly shut down his phone in panic.

"Hey, now it's gone", the first voice spoke up. "Is somebody there?"

Emil pondered for a moment, but decided to answer. "Uh- Who's asking?" He decided that it was possibly the only way to get any information on what's going on.

"Hah, you don't recognize this voice?" the female chuckled. "Does Callie ring a bell?"

"Huh?" Emil huffed in surprise. Now that she mentioned it, she did really sound exactly like whom she claimed to be. Emil had seen the news reports many times enough to remember that voice perfectly. "What are you doing here?" Emil continued once he had gathered his thoughts.

"Pretty sure we got squidnapped", a voice that could only belong to Marie answered. "Squidnapped?" Leon's voice suddenly appeared behind Emil, with a dry and tired tone.

Emil quickly turned his phone's flashlight back on, instead of jumping. It lightened up the room, showing Emil that Leon had gotten up, and was sitting on the floor next to him now.

"Yeah", Marie answered Leon's question.

Leon looked awfully calm considering the situation. Emil couldn't help but to adore the insane level of relaxation he was showcasing.

"Wait- How many of us are there?" Callie spoke again. "Uhm, there's me, you two and Leon." Emil awkwardly explained.

"Remember to count the dead bodies", Callie continued. Emil's eyes opened wide and he felt his mouth open, un-able to respond. "W-What?"

"Just joking." Callie chuckled again. "Well we can't actually be sure of that, can we?" Marie said with a slightly amused tone. Leon nodded with agreement.

Emil just stared at the dark he assumed Callie and Marie were at with absolute confusion. There was just too much going on for him to grasp the situation clearly.

"So, you two were squidnapped, but what about us?" Emil asked.

"How would we even know that?" Marie answered.

Emil didn't really know how to continue, but luckily he didn't have to. Sudden steps echoed from behind one the walls in the darkness.

"Put the light away, quick!" Callie half-shouted. "O-Okay-" Emil was just about able to put it away, before the sound a door made everyone completely quiet.

The room was once again completely dark; the only light was two purple dots at the far corner of the prison. The dots didn't light up much, but they didn't have to. Emil knew almost exactly what gave off the light.

He had seen them on television, goggles worn by Octolings. The one wearing them had to be an Octoling.

The clearly large figure walked over to Callie and Marie's cell. From what Emil could, they must have pushed something in the cell, without saying a word. The figure walked across the room to them, their large boots echoing in the prison.

He looked at the two teens sitting in the dark cell. The glowing purple dots looked intimidating.

Emil wanted to ask something. Anything really, but he couldn't even open his mouth. It was probably for the best.

The figure turned away from them. He quickly glanced around once more, and walked to the door. The sound of the door closing and key clinging in the lock told everyone that the person had left.

An eerie silence fell inside the room.

* * *

This silence was very different from a certain breakfast table.

Alfred was tapping his finger on the table as he munched down a piece of toast like a hungry hippo.

Frustration lingered above the four men at the table.

Kiku was trying to politely eat in quiet, without making eye contact, while Ludwig was constantly looking up at Alfred. It was like he was expecting Alfred to stop the pointless tapping with just annoyed glares. Alfred just started tapping more every time.

The fourth man on the table was probably the strangest of them all. He had been slightly humming the entire time, bouncing on the chair and smiling like there was no bad in the world. Kiku was quite confused by the person he was made to sit next to.

Seemingly everyone else was doing their own things in the building. Most of them were most likely sleeping, since it was only 6:30 AM. It was supposed to be only six, but getting Alfred up had been a longer process than anyone had expected.

A process that lead to Ludwig shouting, and waking up this peculiar bouncy person. It was quite a strange breakfast.

Tap tap, continued Alfred's childish rebellion.

"Can you stop?" Ludwig suddenly spoke up after about a dozen taps. "Stop what?" tap tap, he smirked in a way only a small child could. "The tapping", Ludwig raised his voice slightly. "I have no idea what you're talking about." "You clearly do, please stop." "I don't feel like it." "Stop the tapping." "Nah."

"JUST STOP THE TAPPING", Ludwig shouted, and rose from his chair slightly.

Alfred stared at the man with surprise. He raised both of his hands up like when being arrested. "Okay fine, geez", he tried to calm the man down.

"…Thank you", Ludwig said as he sat back down. The peculiar bouncy person looked at the loud man with worry.

Actually Kiku wasn't sure if the person was looking at anything, since his eyes were closed. Alfred bit his toast again. The tapless silence was quite a nice change in Kiku's opinion.

"So…" Ludwig suddenly started, as he finished his healthy balanced breakfast. Everyone turned to look at Ludwig. "I got a phone call last night." he continued. "I was informed of another squidnapping."

"HA! See?! We're innocent", Alfred said with the face of victory.

"That really isn't enough to prove anything." Ludwig sighed. "We still don't even know how many are in on this, it's possible you have allies."

"Ha, like I'd need allies for anything." Alfred proudly stated. "Who'd even want to be allied with you?" Ludwig mumbled. Alfred glared at Ludwig.

Kiku couldn't help but to find Alfred's glare a little funny, since it was nothing compared to what Ludwig had done earlier.

"Anyways…", Ludwig spoke up again. "…You two have been assigned to community service for 2 weeks as punishment for breaking out of prison and breaking into a house."

"Only two weeks? Dude, I broke the main screen at the plaza, and I got like a month of community service", Alfred questioned Ludwig once again instead of letting him finish.

Ludwig mumbled for a moment and then explained: "Well you didn't break anything-" "Expect the law." The bouncy peculiar person suddenly spoke up. "Yes- That is true-" Ludwig tried to continue.

"So did we break something or what?" Alfred said, biting his fifth toast. "No, you didn't break anything physical." Ludwig said with a slightly louder tone.

"Isn't the law written in a book?" The peculiar bouncy person said with genuine confusion.

"Just… Forget it." Ludwig sighed.

"Excuse me." Kiku suddenly spoke, his voice being calm and reserved, which was a big contrast against all the loud voices at the table.

"Yes?" Ludwig said. His voice wasn't as stern as before, it was actually almost kind.

"What do we exactly do as community service?" Kiku asked.

"You'll be joining one of the city's garbage cleaning squads." Ludwig answered, there was a slight hesitation in the tone now, like he was holding back.

"But there's like no trash in Inkopolis, isn't that a bit pointless?" Alfred tilted his head as he spoke.

"…There's no trash, because the cleaning squad _cleans it_." Ludwig said, his voice now lacking any hesitation or kindness.

"…I knew that…" Alfred mumbled.

Ludwig then got up. "I'll drive you there, so finish up."

"Alright." Alfred mumbled and got up too, while Kiku just got up quietly.

Then they left.

The peculiar bouncy person waved Ludwig goodbye before they left, and then begun cleaning the mess the men had left behind.

The pushed in object turned out to be a plate of porridge with two spoons.

Emil and Leon stared at it under the light of the flashlight.

"Uh…" Emil tried to speak, but was un-able to think of anything. "Are you hungry?" Leon asked him. "…Yeah." Emil nodded. "Me too." Leon said.  
Emil could only respond with a simple: "Oh." A moment of silence lingered in the air.

"Do you want to eat?" Leon continued. "Kinda" Emil answered. Leon picked up a spoon: "You can eat it." "Huh? Why me, weren't you hungry too?" Emil awkwardly stared at Leon. "Yeah, but you can eat it", Leon insisted. "…But-" "There's two spoons for a reason", Callie suddenly spoke up. "But-"

Callie probably rolled her eyes: "Come on, just do it."

"…I-I guess, if that's fine with you…?" He looked at Leon. "Yeah, sure." Leon nodded. Emil picked up the other spoon. "…Well uhm.."

Leon took a spoonful of the porridge and ate it. "It's bad." "I know right?" Callie said with clear joy in her words.

Emil placed the spoon into the porridge, as far away from the spot Leon had placed his. He scooped up some porridge and awkwardly ate it.

It was quite un-comfortable.

After a few more times of repeating the same, he turned to look in the dark cell Callie and Marie were in. "How can you two eat in the dark?"

"You kinda learn after a while." Marie answered. "…How long have you been here?" Emil asked with slight concern.

"A few days, but we've been squidnapped before. The security in the whole country is horrible", Callie said, her voice implying a smirk.

"…Oh." Emil said, as he looked at his phone. It had half of the battery left. "I should probably call someone."

"You have a phone?!" Callie squeaked. "Uh- Yeah?" Emil was quite surprised from the reaction.

The sound of someone flailing their arms followed. "You should have said so! Call someone! Use a tracking device to find where we are, anything."

"…There's no internet here." Emil mumbled. "I can't download a tracking system." "Then just call someone." Marie said. "Who?" Emil opened his contacts and begun checking through them.

"…Oh yeah." Callie thought.

"The police for sure won't help."

"Yeah…" Emil mumbled.

Marie sighed. "This is pretty stupid."


	4. Finally! Community service!

**HEY YOU ALL! It appears I'm still writing fanfiction about squids. You know what? It's pretty fun! I hope you are enjoying it as well!**

 **This chapter we'll finally get to the actual community service! I know you were certainly super excited to read that.**  
 **Totally exciting material.**  
 **Hooray.**

 **: D**

 **OKAy BUT HAVE fun.**

* * *

Ludwig parked to the side of the road, and got out. Afterwards he helped his handcuffed company out of the car.

Alfred looked around the place with his usual casual posture.

They had arrived at the central park, one of the greenest places in Inkopolis.

"Soo…" Alfred spoke, as if waiting for someone else to continue.

"Follow me." Ludwig worked as asked, and started guiding them to a certain spot at the park.

At that certain spot, about 4 people were chatting and having fun together. Well as much fun as standing around could be.

Once the group noticed Kiku and the others walking over, they turned their heads at them and some of them even waved.

Ludwig hurried to a cyan hair female inkling "Here are the two troublemakers."

"Ah, I see, great to see you all." She smiled at them. "My name is Flann, welcome to our cleaning crew."

"Wait- Your group name is the cleaning crew?" Alfred suddenly spoke up. The grumpiness had disappeared and been replaced with a curious expression.

"Yup! Exactly." Flann cheerfully answered.

At that moment the cheerful Alfred they all knew returned. "Are you guys the squad who won silver in the hobbyist championships?"

"That's us", she nodded with a hint ofpride in her eyes. "…Well, at least some of us."

Three other inklings in the group smirked in the background, and one of them decided to add his two cents to the conversation. "It's a good way to get people more interested in charity and other things."

"That is very admirable", Kiku said quietly at the side.

"Hah, thanks", Flann said, as she looked through the clipboard she was holding. "So, Alfred Kirkland, and Kiku Honda, huh?"

"Yes." Ludwig finally had his chance to talk.

"Alright, we should be able to handle them from here, you can leave Ludwig." She nodded with a determined expression.

Ludwig took a few steps back to leave. "Don't let them go anywhere without someone to watch over them."

"Don't worry, I have all the tips written here." Flann tapped the paper on the clipboard.

After Flann's reassurance, Ludwig walked to his car and left, leaving Kiku and Alfred with the other cleaners.

Flann started looking through her notes. "Alright, Nick can you help Alfred here?"

Another blue Inkling nodded.

Flann continued reading. "Allison can help Kiku then."

The new guides walked over to the pair.

"How are you two?" Allison said, clearly slightly unsure if she should look at Kiku or Alfred, as their size difference made it hard to look at both.

"Could be worse", Alfred said before Kiku could say anything, not that he minded.

"Well that is at least something", Allison continued. "Well, follow me, let's go on a little adventure."

"Yes!" Alfred hoorayed.

"Well aren't you excitable?" Nick stated, his voice alone indicated a mood as good as everyone else's.

"Well that's one way to put it", Alfred said, smiling once again.

It made Kiku happy to see that Alfred wouldn't act like a grumpy child through the whole experience.

Allison picked up some stick-like items from a big and long bucket they had with them "Okay, so here are the spikey-picky-things."

"Spikey-picky-things? It's just a grapper." Nick chuckled.

"Just shut up and go along with it." Allison suddenly snapped.

"Alright then, spikey-picky-things it is." Nick said, and took one of them in his hand, his expression a little unsure.

Alfred took one as well, and like a child he had to start playing with it instantly. He grapped at some of the grass on the ground, and just air.

"Don't play around with it too much, it really hurts when it hits someone's head", Allison said with worry, but she was clearly happy to see Alfred having fun with his new grapper.

After they all geared up and grapped some trash bags, they went on a little walk around the city searching for trash.

"So are you two in the Cleaning crew?" Alfred said, as he placed a hamburger wrapper in his trash bag.

"Nick is, I'm not." Allison said, she seemed to be fine with it.

"Ah, sweet! What weapon do you use?" Alfred excitedly interrogated Nick.

"Oh- I have my trusty Tentatek splattershot." He smiled looking a little embarrassed.

"That's not a very high tier weapon…" Alfred said with clear surprise, and sounding like it was a slight let down.

"Well I've had it since I started. Besides even if I wanted a new one I wouldn't be able to buy one." Nick said, sounding a bit melancholy.

Allison rolled her eyes.

"It doesn't bother me though, the skill is in the gun holder, not the gun." Nick smiled warmly, he was clearly being genuine.

"Excatly!" Alfred suddenly shouted with strong passion. "That's exactly what I keep saying!"

"That's… Really nice." Nick turned to look at Alfred, with a bright smile. "Honestly you'd think the hobbyist championships would be more accepting of different levels of gear."

"I know right?" Alfred rolled his eyes.

"…You've played in the championships?" Allison spoke up, there was a hint of jealousy in her voice that Kiku felt like he was the only to pick up.

"Yeah, once or twice." Alfred shrugged. "I don't really have a squad to play in though, everyone is just worse than me."

"That seems like a very nice problem to have." Allison smiled as she looked to the side. "Do you want to play with me sometime? I don't have a squad either."

"I couldn't pass a chance to play! Of course!" Alfred said, looking hyped up.

"That's a fun attitude", Nick nodded. "Could I maybe join as well?"

"Well yeah, it's way more fun with more people." Alfred said, without really listening to Allison's opinion.

The girl remained quiet anyways.

The rest of the cleaning went quite swimmingly. Ludwig came just in time to pick the two up, and drove back to the orphanage.

* * *

Meanwhile in a place that really would have needed the cleaning crew, a group of inklings sat behind bars.

"I spy with my little eye something black." Marie's voice echoed through the room.

"The dark?" Callie said un-enthusiastically.

Marie sighed: "Ding ding ding, we have a winner."

"Do we even have that little eyes? compared to all the birds and such they are pretty huge." Emil said matching everyone else's cheerful tones.

"Well you can think of it like that", Callie mumbled. "Honestly if you've ever seen Sheldon you'd never think that Inkling eyes were big."

"…Can't argue with that", Emil mumbled.

"Can we just stop playing? It's been Darkness for the past two hours", Marie said, sounding frustrated out of her mind.

"Yeah, like what happened to trying to call someone?" Callie said as she leant against the half-finished wall.

"I'm not sure who we can call…" Emil said, feeling quite pathetic. He had a phone on him in a kidnapping situation, he should be able to call for help easily. Somehow the whole situation brought a certain level of respect to all the horror movie protagonists that survived even without a phone.

"Can't you call your brother?" Leon said from the floor, he had been laying down most of the time seemingly unbothered by the dirt.

"He isn't my brother!" Emil quickly refused.

"Then what?" Callie quickly gripped to the one and only interesting thing all day.

"He is more like… My adoptive …family member?" Emil was clearly un-comfortable with the subject.

"Huh? How does that make any sense?" Callie kept insisting to get the details.

Emil let out a small sigh "Well our whole "Family" is just a bunch of guys that never got adopted from an orphanage and just… stuck together."

"That's really sweet…" Callie's voice indicated a smile. "You must all be really close."

"…Maybe a bit too close honestly." Emil decided to take the situation to complain a little. "They act like I'd be their younger brother even though I'm not that much younger."

"They must really love you," Marie said, sounding warm and somewhat cheered up by this.

"Well yeah, but that shouldn't stop them from treating me as an equal!" Emil kept on insisting.

There was a slight giggle from the other side of the prison. "Maybe you'll get it when you're older."

Emil wanted to say something along the lines of 'I am old already!' or 'Not you too!' but he realized quickly how childish it would be.

Suddenly the sound of steps echoed from behind the walls once again. The squidnapper was coming.

Everyone quieted down, and retracted to the corners of the room.

The door opened in a slam that could've almost broken the whole door.

The goggled person walked with his dirty rubbed boots right over to Callie and Marie, and placed a small camera right infront of the cell.

"Camera, huh?" Marie spoke, raising an eyebrow.

"You want us to sing to you or something?" Callie chuckled.

"Shut up." A voice that was deep and scratchy silenced them with volume so strong it could lift a moose. It was a voice of a really old man, a man with years of lung problems.

"Oh geez, no wonder you squidnapped us, your voice is horrible." Callie said with genuine surprise.

"I said _**shut up!**_ " The voice only become stronger. It was enough to scare Emil a little.

"Well, _**sorry**_." Callie groaned.

"This video will be sent to the police, if you have something to tell them, please do." He began recording.

Marie calmly walked into the frame. "It appears me and Callie have been squidnapped once again. There are two other people as well, who appear to not be famous."

"There's also ocean water! We're probaply close to the sea!" Callie added at the side.

"So you know, help, and stuff." Marie continued.

The man stopped recording. "You seem very natural with this."

"It's not the first time." Callie said with somewhat unnerving grumpiness.

"…And probably not the last." Marie added.

After that the man went silent again, and walked out of the room.

"Annoying." Marie said as she leaned to the corner of the prison.

"I can't belive you've had to go through this before." Emil said with worry, as he sat next to Leon.

"Me neither." Callie kicked a rock as she spoke.

They were all a little annoyed, and the two teens were even a little afraid.

* * *

Luckily fear wasn't something every jail had in-common, as Alfred and Kiku sat in their small prison.

"Excuse me." Suprisingly Kiku was the one to speak.

Alfred titled his head in slight surprise, his expression was surprisingly neutral for him. "Hm?"

"Why is there a jail in an orphanage?" Kiku said. Once he was done talking his eyes darted to the side, as if to be polite.

"Oh- It's a funny story actually." Alfred's charming little smile creeped back to his face.

"You see..." He started and paused to lean back. "The first owners of this place were some really strange people."  
Kiku listened curiously.

"They pretty much squidnapped octoling children, and kept them here." Alfred explained further.

Kiku's face was quickly filled with slight horror.

"No no- Don't worry, it was actually a good thing!" Alfred suddenly squeaked in surprise, only now he realized to scary he made the situation sound.

Kiku blinked. "Oh?" He looked quite interested.

"It was back when Octovalley was under the dictatorship-thing! So those kids were escaping the horrible situation and coming to Inkopolis." Alfred explained, looking very into it.

"Didn't all Octolings get imprisoned when they arrived, though?" Kiku asked, his brown eyes having a slight spark of discomfort in them.

Alfred nodded. "…But that's why the kids were squidnapped! They saved them and gave them a chance to stay here."

"…by putting them in a jail?" Kiku tilted his head.

Alfred blinked, and then awkwardly changed his sitting position. "Well uhm, yeah." He nodded. "But they were taken care of much better than in normal prisons… And they were allowed to leave anytime they wanted!"

"I suppose that's better." Kiku looked around the small cell. "I still don't understand why they had to be locked up."

"If you were a policeman and walked to a cellar full of Octoling children, wouldn't it be less suspicious if they were in cages?" Alfred shrugged, he wasn't sure if even he was following their logic. "I mean if your job is to imprison them."

Kiku wasn't that into the logic either. "I suppose it could make sense."

"Anyways, after a surprise house search they were found, and the owners jailed along with the octoling children." Alfred sat there. "So I mean, I guess it wasn't that good of a plan."

Alfred sat there, there was a certain melancholy in his eyes. "At least they tried, you know?"

"I suppose." Kiku nodded, he clearly saw that Alfred deeply cared for this story. "Is that why the Orphanage isn't used anymore?"

"Oh-" Alfred was quickly snapped away from his thoughts. "No, there was another owner before shutting down." Alfred looked happy again.

"He was this fun guy, who really tried his best. The funding for the orphanage was really lowered, and he kept finding kids in the wild and bringing them here." Alfred smiled.

Kiku looked quite surprised by what Alfred said: "Kids in the wild?"

"Wait- I haven't told you?!" Alfred almost jumped up to his feet. "Like my whole family was found in the wilderness by that guy!"

The small outsider was almost stunned, he hadn't expected this at all. "That's what happened with my family…"

Alfred tilted his head in confusion "You were in an orphanage?"

He shook his head. "Only the wilderness part."

"Well that's a weird coincidence." The taller man replied, rubbing his chin as if he had a beard. "…This makes sense."

"It does?" Kiku asked, very curious of the answer.

"Oh- Uh, no it doesn't, I'm… just joking, yeah. Joking! That's what I do!" Alfred was clearly a very bad liar.

"…Alright." Kiku wasn't the type to push answers out of people.

"But yeah- Uhm, after the guy found me and brought me to the orphanage, I met my brothers, and yeah." He continued, clearly just to change the subject. "The orphanage ran out of money, we bought the building, the guy ran off for his retirement."

Kiku nodded in understanding. The situation made a little bit more sense now.

* * *

Next day at work, everyone was separated in teams of two.

Kiku was picking up trash with his spike tool, apparently there was a wedding at the park last night, so there was a lot to gather.

Allison, Kiku's team member, was a few meters away poking the ground for garbage.

Kiku was truly enjoying the lack of small talk, and silence between the tw-

"Hey, Kiku… That's your name right?" Allison spoke.

"Yes." He answered, and pushed more trash in the black plastic bag the size of a body.

"That's cool." Allison said, looking calm and relaxed. "I really like researching names."

"Really?" Kiku said, trying his best to be polite.

"Yeah. I mean isn't it interesting that we're using many names left by humans, instead of having our own?" Allison said, as she looked for more trash. To be more specific, he was looking towards Nick and Alfred.

"It is a little strange." Kiku nodded.

Allison nodded. "I always thought Kiku was a female name though, I guess I was wrong- …I was wrong, right?"

"Uh-" Kiku wasn't exactly sure how to reply. "I am male, but the name could have been feminine for humans?" He was very confused now.

"Yeah, I guess." Allison shrugged, her eyes locked on Alfred and Nick. "Based on what I've read, Kiku means a certain type of flower. Chrysan- Chrys-whatever."

"I see."

"I don't think my name has a straight meaning, but it's ancestor names have lead me to this cool human book, too bad all the copies have drowned years ago."

"I see." Kiku nodded.

Allison stopped cleaning up, and was now very much staring at the two kids in the distance. Alfred and Nick were clearly having fun. Laughing.

"…Alfred means elf and counsel."

"R-really?" Kiku stopped as well.

"Oh- uh- yeah, I think so." Allison shook her head suddenly. "Sorry, I got a little carried away.

"It's fine…" Kiku nodded.

"You're probaply not even interested in my stupid little name stuff."

Kiku wasn't exactly ecstatic over it, but certainly wasn't annoyed by it. "It's fine."

"Yeah, whatever." Allison. "I'm going to go empty my trash bag, I'll be back shortly."

Kiku watched for a moment as Allison walked off, but quickly returned his tedious task of picking up confetti. He was quite sure he wasn't doing it correctly.

"Hey, Kiku!" Alfred cheerfully walked over to him. "How are you doing?"

"Fine." He answered, quick and simple.

"Okay cool, so we finished our stuff over there, so we'll join you here." Alfred continued.

"…If that's fine, of course." Nick added.

Kiku took a break from gathering golden confetti: "Why wouldn't it be?"

Nick sighed: "Allison seems to dislike me."

"Why the heck would somebody dislike you?" Alfred looked absolutely stunned.

Kiku was very surprised that Alfred hadn't picked up Allison's aggression before.

"I think she is just jealous since I'm in the Cleaning crew." Nick mumbled a little. "It is quite rude; I mean the whole squad is to get promotion for helping our city, and to have fun."

"Have you talked to Allison about thi-" Kiku tried to ask, but was quickly cut off by Alfred.

"That's pretty immature."

"I suppose, I do understand her though. It's still rude to target all that frustration on one person." Nick crossed his hands. "I was just better with my cheaper weapon than she was with her big fancy weapon."

"Excuse me?! You got into the team because you used a Shooter while I used a Charger! It was just more beneficial for the team!" Allison said as she half ran to them, anger flaming in her eyes.

Nick sighed in absolute frustration "Well if you couldn't figure out that the team needed a Shooter for balance it means you clearly hadn't done much research on the team!"

"I am horrible with Shooters, I thought I could get in with what I was very good at and learn to use a shooter afterwards." She tried to defend herself.

"Well you were wrong, that's it." Nick said as he stabbed a poor defenseless confetti piece on the ground.

Allison flailed her arms once in frustration and then walked off.

"And now she is abandoning her duty, I can't belive this…" Nick said rubbing his forehead with annoyance.

Alfred leaned to the table leftover from the wedding: "Sheesh you two really don't get along."

Nick's expression shifter from annoyance to slight sadness "I wish we did."

"It's fine, not everyone gets along with everyone." Alfred tried to cheer his work pal out.

"Heh, I suppose." Nick smiled.

"Now let's clean some confetti!" Alfred excitedly said as he failed to stab a piece of confetti.


End file.
